Persephone and the Playwright

Noah Haidle on BU’s latest Huntington production

Noah Haidle doesn’t believe in the concept of “write what you know,” and his play Persephone, currently being performed by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Wimberly Theatre, demonstrates the strength of his conviction. Set both in Renaissance-era Italy and in a present-day American city, Persephone delves into the mind of a stone statue of the Greek goddess Demeter, a frustrated witness to 500 years of humankind at its best — and worst.

In the video above, Haidle talks about the plot of Persephone, the statue in New York’s Bryant Park that inspired him, and the unconventional and controversial choices he made in his script. Click the player to watch.

Persephone runs through Sunday, May 6, at the Wimberly Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m., and matinees on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.huntingtontheatre.org, by phone at 617-266-0800, or in person at the Calderwood Pavilion box office.